Lucky number 26? If 13 is widely considered unlucky by many, I wonder if double the amount is twice as bad or if there’s no significance what so ever.

Either way, Dwayne Roloson will start his 26th straight game tonight against the Avs. An Oiler win tonight should get JDD his first start since November 30, tomorrow in Chicago.

Starting Roloson tonight makes the most sense. The Oilers need this game and technically speaking their odds of a win tonight are greater than tomorrow in Chicago. Every game is huge down the stretch, but Roloson can’t start every one, so put in your best goalie tonight, get the win and then hope that Deslauriers will be so pumped to play tomorrow in Chicago that he might steal you a game.

Roloson is 9th in GP amongst goalies, he has faced the 8th most shots, and only Lundqvist has a better save % out of the top nine work horses. Roloson has had a stellar season, when you consider no one thought he would be the bona fide number one this year.

The Avs on the other hand are in the basement of the Western conference and when you look at their goalie’s numbers it’s no surprise. Budaj has a 2.87 GAA and a .899%, while Raycroft is struggling with a 3.15 GAA and .892%. The injuries to Joe Sakic and Paul Stastny have definitely hurt them, but they don’t have good enough goaltending to compete.

On Saturday, the Oilers allowed the Avs to stay in the game when Hemsky was stoned on a breakaway, and then they didn’t muster a shot on two separate two-on-ones early in the first. The Avs are playing out the string. So much for the adage “playing loose” down the stretch, because the Avs have ONE regulation win in their last 12 games.

This has to be a win tonight for the Oilers.

Joe Sakic skated this morning for the first time since suffering a back injury on Nov 28th, and then getting outsmarted by his snow blower in December. It doesn’t sound like he’ll play tonight.

Mike Vernace and Derek Peltier made their NHL debuts on the backend for the Avs earlier this week, so the Avs blueline could be ripe for the picking if both suit up again tonight.

Penner took some shifts with Moreau and Cogliano while Pisani skated with Reddox/Stortini and Brodziak. Moreau and Cogliano worked well together earlier this season, so putting them back together makes sense and Penner seems more energized when skating alongside the Captain.

One of Canada's most versatile sports personalities. Jason hosts The Jason Gregor Show, weekdays from 2 to 6 p.m., on TSN 1260, and he writes a column every Monday in the Edmonton Journal. You can follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/JasonGregor

I’m a Scientist! wrote:
Is Patty O on the first line again? I like his mojo up there.
No - he was placed on this line as a St. Patty’s tribute, MacT puts all the players in a hat and then creates the lines after morning practise.

I sure hope those "little people" are in the hat... They would make a good line with Gagner. It would be like that McDonalds commercial...

Don't you think JDD needs to start in Chicago win or lose tonight? At some point the Oilers need to figure out if JDD can play, if the plan was never to play him then they should have either traded him or put him on waivers and kept Garon.

The number of consecutive starts is beginning to border on ridiculous, if Roli has nothing left for the playoffs then really what is the point of even making it?

the number 26 numerology wise is broken down to 2+6 which equals 8. 8 is regarded as the number for TOTAL CONTROL. Hence the cataclysmic events which transformed the year 2008 from a major BULL MARKET to a major BEAR MARKET and other huge worldwide (mostly negative) events.

Believe it or not http://illuminatimatrix.wordpress.com/2-origin-of-numbers-2/

So what's this got to do with hockey? And more specifically for Roli's performance tonight? Who the hell knows but it is some interesting sh*t!

Don’t you think JDD needs to start in Chicago win or lose tonight? At some point the Oilers need to figure out if JDD can play, if the plan was never to play him then they should have either traded him or put him on waivers and kept Garon.
The number of consecutive starts is beginning to border on ridiculous, if Roli has nothing left for the playoffs then really what is the point of even making it?

I agree JDD needs to play, and I know their plan was to play him sooner. Roloson isn't tired. He rarely practices now, and it isn't hurting his play, so would sitting one or two games on the bench really give him that much rest.

Roloson is mentally tough, and that will help him avoid fatigue.

What the Oilers need to do is win a three or four in a row, to gain some separation from the pack, get Roloson some rest, and you would think as a team a winning streak would give them enough confidence to overcome a rusty, or possibly skaky JDD.

The way Roloson has played, and how Garon had played here, I doubt he would be playing much more anyway.

Rolli was a bit of sourpuss when he got here and learned to be a team player with the ups and downs, shows we can all change…..24

Roli was nothing other than a true professional. Thats it, thats all. After losing the starting job last year, he was on the bench, giving advice to players during the shootout on where to shoot. Did he ask to be traded, YES, because he wanted to play. Did he whine to the media when he wasn't traded, NO. What ho did do was stay focused, stay positive, train hard, and, when he got his shot, he ran with it (and for us, THANK FORKING GOD). The guy didn't whine or be sour.

Let's say you Did believe in energy over outscoring - and this admittedly without checking 46 vs 21 in real plus/minus - wouldn't it make more sense to play 46 than 85?

Finally, 34 on the 4th line is a little bit jarrring. I'm not saying it isn't deserved - if you're playing 27 on the RW, then it's 21 and 34 for the 3rd/4th RWers - but looking at him down there, I wonder what it might say about the future.

That's some hurtin' goaltending numbers for the avs. I guess when Willis said there wasn't a big dropoff from 5th-15th in goalies, he should have mentioned that there is a big dropoff from 15th-25th... or possibly worse than that if you're the avs. That said, we've managed to make some average nhl goalies look pretty unbeatable so far this year...

JDD vs. Roli, lets see….put our best goalie against the worst of the next two teams and our second best goalie against the best team. Sounds like a solid plan to me, signed MacT

You stack the deck when you have the best chance to win. 2 points is more important than looking good. Chicago is almost a sure-lose, thus a perfect opportunity to throw in JDD. No point in wasting Roli in a game that you probably won't win anyway. How is it that people don't understand this?

the number 26 numerology wise is broken down to 2+6 which equals 8. 8 is regarded as the number for TOTAL CONTROL. Hence the cataclysmic events which transformed the year 2008 from a major BULL MARKET to a major BEAR MARKET and other huge worldwide (mostly negative) events.

How about this:

Roli wears #35. 3+5 also equals 8. If 8 is the number for total control then Roli will CONTROL the opposition and lead the mighty OIL to victory. 3-1 Oilers.

That’s some hurtin’ goaltending numbers for the avs. I guess when Willis said there wasn’t a big dropoff from 5th-15th in goalies, he should have mentioned that there is a big dropoff from 15th-25th… or possibly worse than that if you’re the avs. That said, we’ve managed to make some average nhl goalies look pretty unbeatable so far this year…

I never liked that tandem. Budaj's never shown anything better than backup ability at the NHL level (seriously - I'd consider Dany Sabourin as a fair comparable), and the last time Raycroft looked like an NHL goaltender was 2003-04.

I honestly don't think there's much difference between those two guys and the AHL callups the Islanders have been using all year - actually, I take that back. Those AHL callups have been better than the Avs pair of goalies.

Deep Oil wrote:
Rolli was a bit of sourpuss when he got here and learned to be a team player with the ups and downs, shows we can all change…..24
Roli was nothing other than a true professional. Thats it, thats all. After losing the starting job last year, he was on the bench, giving advice to players during the shootout on where to shoot. Did he ask to be traded, YES, because he wanted to play. Did he whine to the media when he wasn’t traded, NO. What ho did do was stay focused, stay positive, train hard, and, when he got his shot, he ran with it (and for us, THANK FORKING GOD). The guy didn’t whine or be sour.

Sorry he was put out and making a sad face when Garon took his job at the start.....then the goalie gods gave him another shot.... trust me - ask any scribe if Rollie was easy to deal when the chips were down - he main beef was that the media was not paying any attention to him when he was number 2..... and he learned that it was part of the deal - when your not playing, not many people want quotes from you.....

Everyone is going bananas in here today. Personally I love the scrapping and I say bring the heat. If the Oilers had half the jam of the OilersNation we would be sitting around wondering how to best enjoy home ice advantage in the playoffs.

Instead we sit around lipping each other off waiting for the game to start. At least I am waiting for the game to start.

@ Jason Gregor:
This is way off topic boys, but an easy venue. Gregor I was listening to your show today, but my commute didn’t last long enough to hear something I am very interested in.
Ryan Ford left the MFC? Where is he going? Any details (That can be public) on why?
Sorry to the guys who aren’t into MMA, I was just surprised becasue I believe Ford is very capable of being very successful.

Ford and Pavlich could not agree on price per fight.
Pavlich gets the River Cree for free in exchange for liquor revenue - has very little costs except for tier 2 or tier 3 fighters. Has improved somewhat since HDNET.

Pavlich ironically retains Ford as property until July - so he is in limbo..... can't fight without a lawsuit.